Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  I nodded, “I’d say so yes,” I smiled at the ground for a second then looked back up with a little laugh, “it’s funny, I thought I’d finally had some good luck, that I was actually going to make it out. I spent the morning on cloud nine with my boyfriend, then go back to work to find MPs at my desk who, out of nowhere, whisked me off to jail. I will say though that the MPs and the detectives have been very helpful, and I’m sure they’ll find the person who did this to me.”

  “There was no inquiry beforehand?” an angry sounding man asked, “They didn’t even entertain the possibility that you may have been hacked?”

  “Shouldn’t there be some kind of recompense for you? The MPs just waited until you were about to regain your citizenship then decided you were cheating?”

  The crowd was fast getting out of control, shouting questions that were more indictments than anything. They didn’t want to hear what I had to say, they just wanted the opportunity to attack the MPs and, judging from some of the voices, the government as a whole.

  I wanted to say more, to try and calm them down, but suddenly I had Sergeant Griegs’ hand on my arm, “We should really get you out of here, come on.” he whispered while the Commander starting bellowing orders at the MPs who’d been waiting inside.

  The Sergeant started forcing me through the reforming crowd, the Commander shouting “Get a move on!” after him, making him go from a brisk walk to straight up running.

  Suddenly I was in the car and Griegs was slamming the door behind him and taking the seat across from me, “Go, now.”

  The driver scoffed, “Not without the Commissioner I’m not, besides, there’re people in front of us.”

  “Go through them, we’ve got orders to get Redmond to safety.”

  The driver muttered something under his breath then put the car in gear and leaned on the horn as he sped off, the lack of thumping sounds giving me some sort of comfort that he hadn’t had to hit anyone.

  “What the Hell was all that? I was barely up there five minutes!”

  Griegs pulled off his helmet and threw it on the seat next to me, “We thought this might happen. Civilian tensions have been increasing over the past few months, and now they’re using you as proof to say that no one’s getting their citizenship back. Did you see anyone with a gun?”

  I thought about it for a second, and assumed he didn’t mean the MPs, “No… no, I don’t think so.”

  Griegs slid back and nodded, “Good, good. That went proper bollocks up, didn’t it?” he asked with a weak laugh.

  “Heh, yeah, that’s one way to put it. Where are we going, home?”

  The Sergeant shook his head, “Not yet anyway, trust me, you don’t want to be there right now, the place’ll be swarming with journos for the next few hours at least. I reckon we find somewhere to eat, you?”

  I gave his armour a significant look, “Do you really think you’re going to blend in with that on?”

  He laughed and nodded, “Good point.” he said before pushing various buttons and undoing straps until the only thing he was wearing was a skin-tight white t-shirt, black cargo pants and boots.

  “Might want to fix those ankles as well.” I said, pointing to the military style fold at the top of the boots.

  Without saying anything he unfolded them and, as a result, almost completely covered his boots, “What about you?” he asked with a smile.

  I looked over my clothes looking for the armour I assumed he was referring to, “What about me?”

  “You’re all dressed up, at least let down your hair and hide your face a bit.”

  I got where he was coming from and did as I was told, a sudden sense of relaxation falling over me as my hair landed on my shoulders.

  Griegs gave a nod and a smile once I’d shaken it out, “A lot better. Is there anyone you want us to call before we spend the next few hours out?”

  “Gerald.” I said, realising that he must’ve seen everything on TV and would be panicking.

  “Your boyfriend, right? The one I saw at your flat?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, that’s him. Could you just let him know I’m alright?”

  “Of course, I’ll send a message to the local MPs and let ‘em know to check up on him when we stop. Anywhere in particular you want to eat?”

  I couldn’t really think of anywhere that I wouldn’t be instantly recognised at. I was about to give up when I remembered a fast-food place I used to go to with my mum and dad, I hadn’t been since they’d died and, from what I remembered, they didn’t have a television in there.

  I gave the Sergeant the directions, and he conveyed them to the driver in a way that I didn’t fully understand, a whole lot of coordinates and stuff like that.

  Tell you what though, Griegs had been dead wrong that morning, there was no way in Hell that things were going back to normal after that.

  Kylia: Chapter 6

  After getting lost more than a few times, and avoiding the journalists even more, we’d managed to find the place and enjoyed some crap food. My body did not like it, and when we were done I was so thankful that we’d gotten word that my building was free from story hungry media.

  It was about five in the afternoon when Griegs finally got me home, and even then he made sure we did a few circuits before coming to a stop.

  “Be sure to let us know if you get swarmed again,” Griegs said as I got out, “we’ll be here quicker than you can say no comment.”

  “Cheers, see you around.”

  The Sergeant laughed and shook his head, “I really hope not, for your sake. Evening.” and, with that, they were gone, driving off as fast as they could.

  I turned around to see Gerald leaning against the front of my building, “So,” he said in mock offense, “I take it you’ve found another man?”

  “Mmhm,” I mocked right back, “he’s great. Drives me around, buys me dinner, has a gun. What more could a girl want?”

  “Well I don’t know, maybe someone who’s been making sure no one goes into your flat?”

  I tilted my head as I walked toward him, “People have been trying to get into my flat?”

  “Yeah, well, people have been trying to get up there to question you. Just kept telling them you weren’t home ‘til they left.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a kiss, “That’s my man. Wanna head up?” I asked, my regular accent and vocabulary finally returning to me.

  “Definitely.” he said before bending down and picking up his laptop bag and backpack that he’d had sitting behind his legs.

  I pushed open the doors and Gerald gave me my flat keys, “Why have you got that? You can just use Daemion’s rig.”

  “Won’t he be reactivated? That whole 24 hour ban thing should be over, right?”

  I’d totally spaced on that little fact, and the second I was reminded of it I excitedly started bounding up the stairs. I wasn’t wasting another second trying to stay calm and look proper, it was my time to take back what was mine.

  It may seem weird, but I figured the sooner I could see him working out in the Arena again, the happier I’d be. Sure, I was still worried about getting hacked again, but I was also confident that that would be something that the police were looking out for.

  I practically exploded into my flat and ran into the Rig Room, Daemion’s USB right there in front of his rig, “Did you put that there?” I asked as I slid into my seat and Gerald came in wheezing.

  “Uh-huh,” he puffed out, “I was going to plug it in, but I figured that was just asking for trouble.”

  “Good call.” I said as I plugged in Daemion and booted up the computer, “Wait… how long were you here today?”

  “Not long, I spent most of my time on the street eating pizza. I was like the best dressed tramp in all of West Ham.”

  I wanted to feel guilty, but I was far too excited with the fact that everything was working, the login had been accepted and, before long, Daemion was back in the Arena doing what he did best.

  “Ye
s! Yes! Yes!” I shouted as I shot out of my chair and started dancing, “It’s okay, everything’s okay. Well, ‘cept for all the angry people. But screw them, the game’s working! Everything is back to normal.”

  “Relatively.” Gerald said with a smile, “You want to go get cleaned up while I make some tea?”

  I gave a nod like I was ten and he’d just told me I should probably think before eating the next biscuit out of the jar. Truth was, I wanted to dive straight in, but he was right, a shower and some pyjamas would do me a world of good.

  So that’s just what I did. Five minutes, a shower, and some flannel pyjamas later and I was ready to play, nearly bowled poor Gerald over on my way back to the Rig Room, but he didn’t mind.

  He knew that the most important thing for me to do that night was game, so he helped me get a bunch of my couch cushions in the Rig Room, giving him somewhere comfortable to sit, and we got stuck into it.

  Armelia: Chapter 9

  I blinked away the sleep from my eyes and got out of the comfortable bed with a satisfied groan, “That. Was. Bloody brilliant. How’d you sleep?” I asked the still stretching Gerry.

  “Mmmm. You?”

  “Quite well.” I said with a content smile, “What do you think we should do today?”

  Gerry, who was still clearly tired, gave a bored sigh, “Suppose we could see about that task Vilor wanted us to do? Could be enough to push you up a level.”

  “Oh right,” I said tiredly, “the anti-druid guy. That sounds like a bunch of fun.”

  “Look at it this way,” Gerry said, making a sympathetic face, “you can either have fun or make the gold. I know it kind of sucks, but getting paid is pretty great, innit?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, I s’pose. Come on, let’s find the weirdo.”

  It didn’t take long to find Vilor, he was pretty much exactly where we’d left him, standing there almost ominously and looking over the mages that passed by him.

  “Good morrow Vilor,” I said enthusiastically as we approached, “I remember you saying something last night about you having some tasks for us.”

  The mage raised his eyebrow curiously, “I was sure you would’ve taken advantage of our hospitality and left by now, as is the druidic way. But yes, if you feel you’re up for it I have some… problems that you may be able to handle.”

  I dodged the insult and went straight for the job, “I’m ready, what do you have for me?”

  Vilor finally relaxed his eyebrow and smiled, “There’s a pack of feral wolves just outside the town, and apparently they’ve been coming through the town and causing some trouble. Witnesses have said that they have glowing red eyes and have the ability to disappear. If you could take care of them the town would be grateful to the college and it’ll certainly increase your standing among us.”

  I seethed at the idea of taking on red eyed, feral, disappearing wolves, but if it meant a level up and maybe gaining some insight as to where the MoDA was, I’d be crazy to turn it down. “We’ll do it. Where should we start?”

  “Excellent.” Vilor said with a toothy grin, “You’ll want to go to the old dead oak on the outskirts of town, most reports suggest that they come from that general area.”

  Mission Started: Bad Wolf.

  Objective added: Find and Exterminate the Wolves Terrorising Girit.

  The second Vilor was done talking I made for the door, Gerry chasing after me when he realised I’d left, “Shouldn’t we get some more information?”

  We probably should’ve, but at the same time I was kind of done with being insulted every few seconds, “Nah, I’m sure we can handle it. Probably might even be a good idea to leave Shadow-Stal here, based on what Vilor said it shouldn’t be more than a hundred metres out the gate, and I don’t think throwing him into a fight is wise.”

  Gerry made an unsure sound as I walked out into the crisp morning air, “Alright, but keep in mind I do have to go to work in the morning. Can’t spend the entire night chasing wolves.”

  I gave Shadow-Stal a good pat as we walked passed him, someone having brought him a bucket of feed and another of water at some point during the night that he was thoroughly enjoying, “You know, now that you’ve said that, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

  He was clearly stuck for how he should react, but settled on a little laugh and a smile, “Heh, that is the way it tends to go, isn’t it? So where do you want to start?”

  “I reckon we head straight for the tree and work our way from there.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Once we were out of the town it wasn’t hard to find the tree that Vilor had been talking about, it was at least thirty foot high and in the middle of a mostly dead field. It wasn’t until we really started to draw in on it that I started noting little things here and there, splatters of blood across the tops of the yellowed grass, a few flattened patches that obviously had had something dragged through them.

  “What do you think?” I asked when we reached the tree and there was no obvious sign of the ghoulish predators’ home.

  Gerry shrugged, “I cast detect life back there, but nothing showed up. Maybe Vilor was wrong?”

  I shook my head and put my hands on my hips as I resumed my scanning of the environment, “It’d make no sense to send us off course. That and it’s a pretty major landmark with no other reason to be here.”

  “Could they be in the tree?” Gerry asked as he started circling the oak, knocking on it at seemingly random intervals.

  “Nah, people would say it was plagiarism.”

  “Plagiarism of wha- oh, right, yeah. Hmm… Ooh! Time based!”

  I tilted my head in confusion, then it hit me, “Oh! You mean like they don’t show up until nightfall.”

  “Exactly! My bet is restless spirits, which means magic is the way to go, unless you’ve got some iron on you?”

  I shook my head and silently cursed myself for not thinking to get a melee weapon. I could’ve gone and got one from the town, but to me that seemed like a bit of a waste of time, but so did standing around until night-time.

  My skin was starting to itch with anxiety, and my mind was getting foggy. The worst part? I had no idea why. It wasn’t as if anything particularly intense was happening, and we’d only been on for a few minutes, so time wasn’t really a factor that I had to worry about. I wanted to sink my teeth in and go ‘Let’s just go find another quest, maybe we’ll be able to get something that we can use to productively use our time!’ but for some reason that wasn’t the way I could go.

  I wasn’t wanting to wallow in my anxiety, far from it, I was just stuck shutting down solutions as they came for the most pedantic of reasons.

  I was right about to have a complete and utter breakdown when I felt Gerry’s hand on my shoulder and my heart rate immediately plummeted, “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah,” I squeaked out before clearing my throat and nodding, “yeah. Sorry, I don’t know what happened.”

  He gave me his classic comforting smile and gave me a hug, “If this is too much we can stop you know.”

  “Yeah, no, it’s not that. There’s just… something.”

  We broke apart and Gerry gave me a mildly concerned look, “Want to talk through it on the way back to town?”

  The independent part of me, well, the part of me that didn’t want to be a burden went to blow a raspberry and saw I was fine, but then I realised it’d probably be better if I did talk about it. So I gave a weak nod and started walking back.

  “What happened?”

  I looked at my feet in embarrassment, “I don’t know, I just couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. It was like I’d just been in a car crash.”

  Gerry fell quiet for a few seconds while he thought. “Could it be that you’re worried about having a good time?”

  “What?” I laughed.

  “Not in general,” he clarified, “I just mean in game. We’d just had this big idea and were starting to have fun instead of grinding.”

  “Grindi
ng can be fun.” I deflected with a wink to avoid to the fact that I might be slightly psychologically damaged.

  “Ha-ha,” Gerry scoffed, “seriously though, last time you had fun here you found out that you’d been hacked and none of the money you’d earned actually amounted to anything. It’d explain why you were so quick to liberate that gnome’s head from his body.”

  I didn’t quite feel like admitting he was right, but at the same time I didn’t have the strength to try and deny what he was saying. “Maybe. What would you do if that was the case?”

  Gerry gave me a sorry look, “Honestly? I’d probably just power through it. But I’ve never been in your position before, so I can’t say anything for sure.”

  “That’s very comforting.” I mocked as we stepped into the town, “Sorry. I’m not upset with you or anything, I just don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with this. I can’t just not play, I need the money.”

  “You don’t have to, I think that maybe it might be a good idea to just keep in mind that that’s why you’re freaking out a bit, you know? Perhaps now that the beast has been identified you’ll be able to hit its weak spots.”

  I was lost. First we were talking about emotions, then we were talking about fighting monsters, but instead of telling him that I figured I’d ask a broad question and try and infer from context, “And how would you suggest I do that?”

  That was enough to bring back his real smile, “Well, for starters, you could try having fun. Force it, we find the easiest, most cathartic quest possible and do it until tonight, then we go and finish that wolf quest. I’m sure getting some of the missions off your plate will help.”

  “You think that adding another will help with that?”

  “If it’s a nothing one, sure, why not? I know that that’s what usually works for me when I get stuck. Either it helps me get out of my rut, or it gets me that next level, or next little bit of gold that I need to upgrade my stuff.”

  I spotted the nearest tavern and made a beeline for it, “I s’pose that’s true, and I should probably start getting something other than a bow to defend myself. I guess that just leaves the question of where we find a quest that meets that cathartic requirement of yours.” I said as we entered and I instantly started reading the mission board.